Ronaldo confirms his fifth World Cup journey.
Cristiano Ronaldo was unstoppable in Portugal’s 2-0 triumph over giant-killers North Macedonia. He assisted one of Bruno Fernandes’ two goals in the 2-0 victory.
However, the victory secured their place in Qatar’s World Cup championships.
The 37-year-old attacker will join a rare club of players who have been in five World Cup tournaments: Lothar Matthaus of Germany, Rafa Marquez and Antonio Carbajal of Mexico, and Gianluigi Buffon of Italy.
Argentina has also qualified for the World Cup finals, which Lionel Messi will play for the sixth time.
MORE: Peru confirmed a World Cup playoff spot after 2-0 win over Paraguay.
Ronaldo has happy memories of Porto’s Dragao Stadium, and his World Cup playoff victory on Tuesday is one of them.
In the opening game of the 2004 European Championship, against Greece, he scored his first goal for Portugal.
Five years later, Ronaldo scored the first goal recognized by the FIFA Puskas Award.
It honors the finest effort of the season, a long-range strike for Manchester United against Porto in the Champions League, securing a spot in the semi-finals.
Ronaldo sparkled again at the Dragao in the 2019 UEFA Nations League semi-final against Switzerland, scoring a hat-trick to lead Portugal to the final against the Netherlands. They won to give him another championship.
Eric is a professional news editor, writer, and blogger for the last 10 years. He is working with NewsGater as an off-beat news editor cum writer.